Saturday, May 30, 2009

Buffalo gas, cheaper than Michigan gas

For the first time ever, I paid less for gas in Buffalo, New York than I did in Michigan. Like 25 cents a gallon cheaper, which really makes me wonder (again) what is going on with gasoline prices.

Usually the gas here (because of much higher taxes) is 25-35 cents a gallon more expensive than Michigan, but not on this trip.

Time to punch some holes in U.S. territory and bring up some black gold, Texas tea and drive those prices down again. We can work on the green technology, but we are never going to be completely free of oil. Might as well dig up our own.

5 comments:

Gas was 2.75 in Flushing on Thursday. I went to Oakland County on Thursday, and it was 2.50. And it's always cheaper on the east side of Flint in the Burton area-by at least a dime. Why the gouge in Flushing all the time? Good thing I am such a great planner for my shopping etc. Once a month, all my shopping and poking around and I am done.

You can't win when it comes to buying fuel. Not in Aptos, or Flint!Going electric is our only way out.Electric is where its all headed anyway right? I don't drive so I don't care. I feel for you drivers.

My Dad spent about 35 years working for a company that provided geophysical services for oil and gas explorations companies. I spent about six months working for an oil and gas exploration company. It really astounds me how certain members of congress choose to remain blissfully ignorant of domestic production. Dad tells me that in Alaska, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah there's a motherload of oil--easily enough to make us completely independent of foreign oil. And now I hear the Obama administration is rescinding the Bush's administration's loosening of restrictions on domestic and off-shore drilling. You know, Obama kept saying in the campaign that drilling was useless since it would take years to get the oil to market. Well, we've wanted to drill here for years but can't because of all the bureaucracy and the government's kowtowing to Big Environment. Two, Obama doesn't seem to realize that drilling here would mean that in the future, instead of paying $6.00 per gallon, we could end up paying what the Arabs reportedly pay for their gas--less than a dollar a gallon.

My sister works for a kook in the newspaper business, and he kept going on about how President Bush would call his buddies in Big Oil to make the prices go down during the elections of 2004 and 2008. If only it were really that simple...

Before people trash domestic oil companies, they should learn just how hard it is to drill domestically. First an exploration company does geological research to find deposits of oil and gas. Then they have to secure leases on the land where the hydrocarbons are. Then, they have to get permits from (in Texas) the railroad commission (which consists of much red tape and isn't cheap). Then, they must lease a crew and equipment to drill the wells. And once the well's drilled (and if the oil or gas is found), they have to hire someone to monitor the output. Extracting too much too soon can collapse the well.

It's not at all uncommon for a company to spend well over $1 million to drill a well and then find it's either dry or that the amount of oil and gas in it won't offset the cost of extracting it.